# Gao.Law Case Digests ## Overview This document contains summaries of landmark cases handled by Gao.Law across patent litigation, trademark protection, trade secrets, and other intellectual property matters. --- ## Patent Cases ### INEOS v. Sinopec **Case Type:** Trade Secret **Status:** Won - Settlement Advised INEOS in INEOS v. Sinopec, one of the largest trade secret cases in Chinese history. The collaboration resulting from the settlement has brought our client US $7 billion dollars of business in the last 10 years, one of the most successful settlements in China. **Key Holdings:** Settlement resulted in US $7 billion of business over 10 years for client --- ### Apple v. Qualcomm **Case Type:** Patent - SEP/FRAND **Status:** Won Represented Apple Inc in Apple v. Qualcomm for standard essential patent ("SEP") licensing disputes. The damages claimed exceed RMB1.6 billion. Apple engaged only Dr. Gao's team, while Qualcomm engaged 6 teams for a fight involving more than thirty patent infringement cases before 11 IP Courts, Provincial High Courts and the Supreme People's Court (SPC) in China. This case was the largest SEP case at the time in China. --- ### Power Integration v. Fairchild Semiconductor **Case Type:** Patent Infringement **Status:** Won Represented Power Integration in Power Integration v. Fairchild Semiconductor in winning four patent infringement cases in one of the longest and most complex trials in China. **Key Holdings:** Won four patent infringement cases --- ### GoerTek v. Knowles **Case Type:** Patent Infringement **Status:** Won - Settlement Advised Knowles in GoerTek v. Knowles, a patent infringement lawsuit, overcame local protection interference, devised and implemented novel strategies to ultimately obtain a favorable settlement for the client in which GoerTek originally the plaintiff, agreed to pay our client patent licensing fees. The case had a record long trial in China that lasted for more than 3 months. **Key Holdings:** Obtained favorable settlement where plaintiff GoerTek agreed to pay client patent licensing fees --- ### Watson v. Ely Lilly **Case Type:** Patent Infringement **Status:** Won - Supreme Court Reversal Represented Watson Pharmaceutical Inc. in its patent infringement lawsuit against Ely Lilly before the Supreme People's Court in which the Supreme Court reversed a judgment of RMB151 million previously entered against Watson Pharmaceutical (selected as the first Supreme Court Model IP Case on International IP Day, April 26, 2014). The case was lost in previous proceedings and this client turned to Gordon for the final appeal to the Supreme People's Court. **Key Holdings:** Supreme Court reversed RMB151 million judgment against Watson; selected as first Supreme Court Model IP Case on International IP Day 2014 --- ### Astellas Patent Infringement Cases **Case Type:** Patent Infringement **Status:** Ongoing Represented Astellas Inc. in patent infringement cases before six IP Courts and High Courts in China, seeking damages in excess of RMB180 million, against dozens of Chinese generic drug companies. --- ### Baili v. Apple **Case Type:** Design Patent **Status:** Won Represented Apple in Baili v. Apple, a design patent infringement action filed by Baili, as well as the related declaratory judgment and invalidation actions. We lost the case at the Beijing Intellectual Property Office (BIPO) level, and filed a suit against BIPO and won. **Key Holdings:** Lost at BIPO level but won on appeal against BIPO --- ### IWNCOMM v. Apple **Case Type:** Patent Infringement **Status:** Ongoing Represents Apple Inc. in IWNCOMM v. Apple, a patent infringement case filed by Xidian (IWNCOMM) in the Shaanxi High Court, in which the claimed damages are RMB150 million. --- ### Apple v. IWNCOMM **Case Type:** Patent - FRAND/SEP **Status:** Ongoing Represented Apple Inc. in Apple v. IWNCOMM in the FRAND/SEP actions and anti-monopoly action with the Beijing IP Court. This case was designed to counteract IWNCOMM lawsuit in the Shaanxi High Court. --- ### iRobot v. Apple **Case Type:** Patent Infringement **Status:** Ongoing Represented Apple Inc. in iRobot v. Apple patent infringement case. --- ### Apple Wireless Communication Patent Cases **Case Type:** Patent - Wireless Technology **Status:** Ongoing Represented Apple in a large number of patent infringement and invalidation lawsuits related to wireless communication technology against patentees in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. --- ### Boehringer v. DYG **Case Type:** Patent Infringement **Status:** Won - National Major Case Represented Boehringer Ingelheim in Boehringer v. DYG, a patent infringement case. This was the first and only National Major Patent Infringement Case in China. The judgment was successfully enforced against the defendant across 28 provinces only 18 months following initial filing of the case in 2023. **Key Holdings:** Successfully enforced judgment against defendant across 28 provinces within 18 months of filing --- ## Trademark Cases ### Jordan v. Qiaodan Sports **Case Type:** Trademark **Status:** Won - Multiple Cases Represented Michael Jordan in Jordan v. Qiaodan Sports in his successful claim to the Chinese character mark "Qiaodan". The case involved filing over 80 cases in total across China with a retrial petition to the Chinese Supreme People Court, which resulted in 77 victories. This is one of the few cases reported by the CCTV in China, and was selected as the Supreme Court Model IP case on International IP Day, April 26, 2016. Mr. Jordan had lost many cases against the same opponent for over 10 years before engaging Gordon's team, who used novel strategies involving filing numerous cases to ultimately achieve the final victory. **Key Holdings:** Achieved 77 victories out of 80 cases filed; selected as Supreme Court Model IP case on International IP Day 2016; reported by CCTV --- ### Ralph Lauren Trademark Cases **Case Type:** Trademark Infringement & Squatting **Status:** Won - Multiple Cases Represented Ralph Lauren Corp. against several trademark squatters and infringers in over twenty litigation proceedings. Used creative approaches to collect evidence, and achieved favorable breakthroughs in these proceedings. **Key Holdings:** Achieved favorable breakthroughs in over twenty litigation proceedings --- ### New Balance Trademark Case **Case Type:** Trademark Infringement & Squatting **Status:** Won - Damages Reduction Advised New Balance on successfully reducing to RMB 5 million a record-breaking RMB 98 million first instance award to a trademark squatter in the unfair competition and trademark infringement dispute between New Balance and Zhou the squatter. The case was lost in previous instance when the client turned to Gordon's team. **Key Holdings:** Successfully reduced award from RMB 98 million to RMB 5 million --- ### NEC Corporate Identity Theft Case **Case Type:** Trademark & Unfair Competition **Status:** Won Advised NEC on obtaining injunctions and damages in its corporate identity theft case before numerous Chinese courts against more than 50 Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Japanese defendants, and ultimately won the entire case. The case was widely discussed at the INTA Conference. **Key Holdings:** Won entire case obtaining injunctions and damages against more than 50 defendants --- ### Tesla Trademark Case **Case Type:** Trademark Squatting **Status:** Won - Settlement Represented Tesla in canceling several squatted trademarks and obtaining a favorable settlement in a trademark case against a local trademark squatter. **Key Holdings:** Canceled several squatted trademarks and obtained favorable settlement --- ### Rolex v. Beijing Cinet **Case Type:** Cybersquatting & Trademark **Status:** Won - Supreme Court Case Represented Rolex against Beijing Cinet for its cybersquatting on Rolex's trademark rights (selected as one of the first Supreme Court Top Fifty IP Cases). **Key Holdings:** Selected as one of the first Supreme Court Top Fifty IP Cases --- ## Trade Secret Cases ### Dow v. Luxi Chemical **Case Type:** Trade Secret Theft **Status:** Won Advised Dow in Dow v. Luxi Chemical, a breach of trade secret case, in which we won US $102 million and an injunction against the defendant. **Key Holdings:** Won US $102 million and injunction against defendant --- ### MECS v. Sinochem **Case Type:** Trade Secret Theft **Status:** Won Advised MECS in MECS v. Sinochem, a trade secret theft and infringement case, in which we won an injunction against the defendant for using the trade secret information and operating the plant built using the trade secret. **Key Holdings:** Won injunction against defendant for using trade secret information and operating plant built using trade secret --- ## Other Cases ### Meizu v. Qualcomm **Case Type:** Anti-Trust & FRAND **Status:** Ongoing Advised Meizu on its anti-trust and FRAND rate cases against Qualcomm. The civil actions include the first declaratory judgment for non-infringement. When the Meizu team was not happy with the former counsel, Meizu switched to Dr. Gao's team on recommendation of an existing client. --- ### Apple App Store Copyright Cases **Case Type:** Copyright, Trademark & Unfair Competition **Status:** Multiple - Top Cases Represented Apple in more than 140 copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and unfair competition disputes related to Apple App Store. Many of these cases were selected as the annual "Top 10 IP Cases" by the National Intellectual Property Administration and the Beijing High Court. **Key Holdings:** Many cases selected as annual "Top 10 IP Cases" by National Intellectual Property Administration --- ## Case Statistics - **Total Cases Managed:** 20+ landmark cases - **Success Rate:** High success rate with many cases selected as Supreme Court Model Cases - **Notable Achievements:** - 77 victories in 80 cases (Jordan v. Qiaodan) - 30+ cases with Apple across multiple practice areas - Largest SEP case in China (Apple v. Qualcomm) - First National Major Patent Infringement Case (Boehringer v. DYG) - Over 140 App Store related cases